Journal of Oral Tissue Engineering

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Histological and TEM Observation of Subcutaneous Tissues Exposed to Particulate Copper, Nickel and Titanium

Setsuo SAITOH1, Kaori SASAKI1, Takashi NEZU1, Masayuki TAIRA1, Yu SHIMOYAMA2, Minoru SASAKI2, Shigenobu KIMURA2 and Kiyoto ISHIZEKI3
1Division of Dental Bioengineering,
2Division of Oral Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Pathogenesis and Control of Oral Diseases,
3Division of Oral Histology and Developmental Biology, Department of Oral Biology,
Iwate Medical University School of Dentistry, Iwate, Japan


J Oral Tissue Engin 2010;8(2): 102-106

SYNOPSIS
The in vivo reaction against metal particles is still not well understood. We implanted particulate copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and titanium (Ti) in subcutaneous tissues of the back of mice for 1 week and evaluated metal-implant-induced tissue reactions. In histological observations, Cu and Ni induced strong and moderate inflammation, respectively, while Ti caused little inflammation. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations clarified that a major inflammatory and body-defense cell was neutrophil against Cu and Ni, while no inflammatory cells were found around Ti. We speculated that tissue reactions against Cu and Ni were caused by eluted Cu and Ni ions, respectively, in the nearby tissues.

Key words: metal particles, tissue reaction, TEM observation